Hoshi no kōkai
by Daiyu Amaya
Summary: Goku asks Elder Kai and Shin if they would go on an adventure with him. Elder blows it off and tells Shin to go with, as they adventure together Shin starts to see Goku for more than the fighter he is, that there is indeed more to this great fighter than just fighting.
1. Chapter 1

"So I wanted to go around looking at new worlds! But, everyone else didn't want to come..." He looked a bit sheepish, this mortal, however, was one to be cherished, and oh how he truly cherished his time with something so fleeting.

"So you want us to travel with you, I'm sure there would be plenty of cute girls!" Elder said with glee and dear Seno how embarrassing. Elder nudged him and he was sure he'd turned all sorts of red over such implications. Goku frowned; "I don't care, I just want to find new stuff and fight new opponents." Typical Goku that was for sure.

"Eh well, I don't wanna go. Shin, you go with him." WHAT! But, that meant he would be in danger and thus Beerus-sama as well! "You know why I can't do that!" The elder shrugged; "It's that or let him go off on his own doing who knows what kind of damage..." That was true, but he did have ways of getting out of trouble now didn't he?

And he was friends with Zeno-sama, so he really shouldn't get into too much trouble...Who was he kidding? Goku didn't always look for trouble when it found him, and yes he did sometimes look for it without really thinking things through. But, he shouldn't have to travel alone either.

And it wasn't like he didn't need to learn more about the mortal realm after all, there was plenty of things that Goku had taught him already and learning more about the world of mortals wasn't such a bad plan... and he could spend time after all, he would live for millions of years as it was and wasn't it good to learn about life in order to protect it?

"Well if you're sure I could take time away from..." Elder simply grinned at him and waved a hand; "Of course you can go! It's not like anything exciting is happening here right now! Now go go go!" Elder pushed him into Goku who was like hitting a solid wall. "Well Off we go then!" Goku cheered delightedly, he tried to right himself as Goku placed a hand on his back and thru instant transmission they were elsewhere. "Don't do things so suddenly! What if I had wanted to do something before we left!" Goku chuckled sheepishly; "Sorry, I was just so excited! And besides, it's not like you won't be able to go back to do it, I don't know about you but I do need to sleep so I'd just take us back anyhow."

Well, okay...If they were going back every so often that wouldn't be too bad now would it?


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't really horrible traveling from planet to planet with Goku, what was terrible was his realization of how he felt about the man. There were very strict guidelines for being a Sōzōshin, and one of them was to not fall in love with a mortal, not that you'd be punished it was just frowned on because a mortal's life was so short... But, his feelings were completely inappropriate, the man before him was married for heaven's sake.

Though he hadn't said a single word about his wife, just his children. Had they fought, was that the whole reason Goku had wanted this adventure, to begin with? Goku was happily kicking water up as he walked along the alien shore, He'd made sure to make a map of worlds that Goku could visit, due to his need of oxygen. The last thing they needed was to land on a planet the Saiyan couldn't go to, that would kill him.

The purple waters lapped smoothly over his own feet, free from his boots, The water was rather soothing, even if his thoughts were far from it.

He wondered if it was just a matter of time before he'd shown his interest, or if it would have been anyone that would have stirred these feelings, could it have been Gohan if the young man had asked for such an adventure? No, maybe...It wasn't as likely he hoped because he knew that feelings of this nature were not something that could form for just anyone, and yet...Well it didn't matter now, did it? Because he'd found himself wondering what it would be like to sleep in Goku's arms, to feel his lips on his own...

But it seemed Goku didn't notice how strange he acted at times, like for instance the hot springs they had found several planets back. He hadn't wanted to get in, simply because he was embarrassed by Goku's lack of modesty and the growing feelings he was harboring for said man.

There were times he wanted to just leave, to stop adventuring with Goku, because in the long run that was the better course of action because he would never be able to love this man and be loved in return. How could there be any chance? If Goku's wife ever found out about his feelings no doubt she'd tell Goku, who probably wouldn't care, he seemed so easy going, so willing to ignore certain things.

"Shin?" He glanced up and smiled gently at the warrior looking at him, this man was beautiful...Powerful, kind, all the things someone could look up to. "Hm?" Goku had stopped and he came to stand next to the taller man, watching the dying sunlight glitter in the water. "I wanted to thank you for coming along with me...I know you really didn't want to, but I'm glad you did." While he had disagreed in the beginning, he was glad that he'd come along as well.

"I'm glad to have come, without this adventure. I wouldn't have gotten the chance to know you better or to truly relax." While he had been relaxed before Buu...And true relief had graced him when Buu was finally stopped, the time after that he was too busy learning from the Elder. Goku smiled but then his face turned serious. "There was a reason I choose to do this other than fighting and learning new things...I feel comfortable enough to talk about it now." He nodded, what was it that had sent Goku on this journey, to begin with?

Goku sat and patted the sand next to him, sitting he waited for Goku to start. The man sighed wistfully; "Chi-Chi left me, we got a divorce and well it really broke me. I needed time away from that, from the pain that created...She was finally just fed up with me constantly training, constantly getting the boys to train with me and she was done. Years we'd spent together apparently wasn't enough for her, was too much of a hassle for her."

Oh, gods, that was what created this journey! No wonder Goku had seemed so down when they first started and he'd simply thought it was homesickness that Goku was feeling rather than such a giant loss.

How had he managed to keep such a life changing thing to himself for nearly eight months? It had felt like less sometimes, because of new worlds. New challenges and fun, yet for this whole time, Goku had been hiding this part of himself, hurting alone...

"Goku, I'm so sorry why didn't you say anything before now?" Goku smiled wanly and shrugged, "I guess because it hurt, to know that the one person I thought I'd always have at my side decided she didn't want to be by my side anymore, because as much as she loved me, that maybe I didn't know who she was and that I didn't love her as much as I could have...Should have." Dear Zeno, how did he deal with this information? This was a lot, a giant thing he didn't know how to help Goku with.

"Sometimes it feels like just traveling with you will heal all of it, and other times it reminds me of what I won't have...It's been good and bad. I just, I really think that you've done more for me just by coming on this adventure with me, so. Thank you, I'm really glad that you came with me." He smiled at Goku, if it was helping him, then it was his pleasure to have supplied a companion who Goku could travel with.

But this really meant that he couldn't ever tell Goku what he'd started to feel. Because, how would he feel? Having been heartbroken over his wife leaving him, to learn that someone he trusted was feeling something so...inappropreate for him?


	3. Chapter 3

Harboring feelings for a man who was recently divorced was probably one of his lowest moments, and that was definitely saying something... He'd made so many mistakes in his life and this was just another one. One that he hadn't known he could make.

Now with the knowledge that Goku was single didn't help him a single bit, simply because the man was without a wife now didn't mean that anyone could try to claim his wild heart, no doubt Goku still loved Chichi and anyone attempting to catch his attentions was just a masochist.

No, he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't attempt to have that sort of connection to Goku, He would simply befriend the mortal man and that would be good enough. But, the pain that coursed through him at the mere thought of never telling Goku how much he truly cared...It was only worse when he looked to Goku, who usually was poking or prodding at something or other or beating another fighter.

"Shin, these flowers are funny." He frowned and walked towards Goku who was holding a flower, it was bright pink with purple splotches, what exactly was that? "Why are they funny?" Goku blinked and smiled sloppily; "They made an explosion!" Goku mimicked an explosion with his hands, the flower he'd been holding dropping out of his hands before more flowers did exactly what he was talking about catching both of them in a whirlwind of pollen. He coughed and couldn't breath; "Goku! Ge-get us out of here!" He didn't know how he managed to even talk but suddenly they were in the water and his ability to breath was even further cut off. He panicked this couldn't be the way he died! Strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him. He gasped air as he hit the surface. "Oh, oh gods." Goku chuckled lightly; "A god calling out for gods." That wasn't amusing when he'd almost died!

They swam to the edge of the lake, they were back on his world. Free from a danger of most sorts at this point. Goku shivered, he needed to get dry before he got sick then. Mortal bodies or at least the more mortal bodies than his own were not impervious to violent temperature drops at all. Not to say that it didn't affect him, it just took more to do so.

"I feel too hot," Goku muttered, that wasn't a good sign at all...He groaned as Goku's tongue slid between his slightly parted lips and twined with his own, never in his deepest dreams did he ever think that this was possible. How could this man want to kiss him? How could he allow this to happen even because they weren't really supposed to get attached to mortals...The heat is more than enough to give him pause, because even though his mind was telling him it was wrong to want this mortal man, everything else was on fire, burning down and begging for this to be real.

Tingling anticipation curling in the pit of his stomach as this bliss simply continued on, Goku was flushed in the face as he pulled back, "Shin...I. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." He was pulling away. No, this couldn't be real. "Please, wait." Goku paused, his eyes a bit glassy.

Goku had kissed him, but that had only been...what had it been? god, he was burning up and his thoughts were hard to hold onto... Why would Goku have kissed him? He didn't have a terrible crush on him like he did Goku. "Shin," Goku whined like he needed something so dire and was being denied. Goku placed his hands on his hips, they felt enormous on him...but it felt good too.

"Shin please, I. I feel like I'm on fire." He did too.


End file.
